videogamestory, the failed exhibition, currently in Paris, France.

Stuffed with CRTs, empty of meaning

Today, we were lucky enough to be given access to what was supposed to be a great interesting, interactive exhibition through the amazing history of video games. This is what we saw, felt, and thought.

As a bunch of passionate retrogamers, a complete exhibition around the history of video games sounds like a shiny DeLorean: the greatest time machine of all, exciting, full of incredible hardware.

Officially, the exhibition starts next monday. So when we got our pass for todays’ private opening, we didn’t think twice. At 8:30am, we were waiting behind the doors, dreaming of what holly relics we were about to see, touch, learn about.

The experience started to decline when the doors opened only at 9:30am, when they were meant to 30 minutes earlier.

After checking in, we finally got to a huge, empty room. Empty is the word. 4 walls, black, really black, and a few consoles and arcade cabinets dispatched here and there. Oh, of course, you can play these, but one thing stroke us only a few minutes after entering the void: no explanations.

No texts. Nothing. Plain cabinets and CRT screens, but nothing to explain visitors what this is all about. OK. Why not…

The exhibition continues only to get worse. A huge printed photo of Ralph Baer gave us some expectations, hoping the exhibition to start there. A proud Odyssey stands under thick, dusty glass full of fingerprints.

And again, nothing. A failure. A complete disaster. This is in no ways an exhibition, this has nothing to do with culture, nor with gaming.

Useless arcade cabinets, turned off. Frustrating and sad.

Let’s go quickly through everything wrong in there:

Some TVs didnt even have consoles linked to them

Few to no indications about the games/systems people could play.

Hard to examine systems, closed in dark wood cases…

Dust, fingerprints, dirty screens and consoles

Unplugged cabinets and CRTs

…

Oh dust again!

We won’t go through the entire thing. We’ll end this sad post on these words:

DO NOT GO TO THIS “EXHIBITION”.

Unless you want to loose money and time, it’s not worth a penny. If you have questions regarding videogames, that’s NOT the place to visit. No.

What’s that fucking game ? I can’t see a thing in there! Someone turn on the lights!

The history of videogames is a great adventure, full of trivia, love, wars, and this exhibition does in no ways transmit this to the public. It tells in no ways where do these games come from, and where they’re going.

If you’re in Paris during this summer, there are plenty of things to do if you enjoy retrogaming.

Starting with meeting the boys at mo5, the amazing retrogame shop and its owner Régis, and the fantôme bar to have a drink. Also, could be time for you to learn reading french, as the country hosts the wonderful pixnlove editions. Finally, the Cité des Sciences hosts a smaller, but way more interesting, complete, and educative exhibition, with less games to play, but with that sparkle of knowledge every retrogamer loves.